In Full Bloom

Someone once said that a teacher’s favorite months are June, July and August.  I won’t lie, they are certainly a welcome respite for a first grade teacher after a school year filled with all the hard work that goes into trying to make learning fun and meaningful for six year olds.

As much as I love what I do, I was relishing the thought of having time just for myself and for my family within reach, which is a very rare occurrence between the months of September and May.   Like the duties of a mother, a teacher’s job is never done, even once June rolls around.  And as I tried to clean up the classroom I know as my second home, I wondered how I would ever finish all the items on the checklist buried somewhere beneath the plan book, number two pencils, and faculty meeting minutes littering my desk.

As if the mere list were not enough, I also had the added obstacle of two young children bright with the excitement of a summer full of possibilities who had absolutely no interest or desire to spend any more time at school when the sun’s warm rays beckoned them to be outdoors.  Unfortunately they have been born to a workaholic teacher for a mom who lives by the “work before play” philosophy.  A veritable curse to say the least. 

Being four and ten, they are too young to stay home alone and had come to school with me to “help.”  Although I can usually count on my ten year old to lend a truly helpful hand, I know from experience that “help” from the four year old is sometimes actually exactly the opposite of that.  I was already making a little mental list of things for him to “help” me with.  

However, as quickly as I was packing away the pattern blocks and construction paper, they were equally as quickly being unpacked by the four year old as entertainment for the only children left in this room.  I sighed as I realized this was a losing battle and set about accomplishing what I could.  Pattern blocks and paper alone don’t hold a summertime child’s attention very long though and soon the sound of a normal brother and sister’s bickering began. 

Allison being ten and Trent, four, there are the usual complaints.  Allison complains that Trent is into her stuff.  Trent complains that Allison won’t share.  Then they both complain that they are bored.  It is not often that they play together, usually if forced, or if a third party is involved, though I ply them with requests to enjoy each other almost daily.  I decided that I was not the entertainment director for the day and they would have to figure it out for themselves. 

A little while passed and suddenly it was quiet.  Eerily quiet.  I looked up from the student files I was sorting to see the two of them huddled on the floor.  Together.  Between them was the rather large box of Legos that I keep for rainy day free time.  Bright pieces of colorful plastic squares and rectangles were strewn on the floor around them as tiny masterpieces were forming before my eyes.  Little fingers joined with bigger ones to create, imagine, cooperate….it was magical.

I have never been able to appreciate Legos the way that my students do.  For children who learn best by using manipulatives they are a charm.  But that day as I watched a box of little bricks build a relationship between the world of my big kid and the world of my little kid, I knew I would never see those blocks the same way again.

The magic of the Legos had afforded me the luxury of a little peace, but the joy of seeing my children doing something together….that was the best trick I had ever seen. 

This entry was posted on Monday, June 12th, 2006 at 5:00 pm and is filed under Contests, Kids, Work - Teaching. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.